WGA winnows award-eligible screenplays

The Writers Guild of America has remained rigorous on qualifying screenplays for its awards with more than a dozen notable exclusions this year including Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” and William Nicholson’s “Les Miserables.”

Ballots began arriving in recent days in member mailboxes for voting on 112 eligible screenplays — 44 in the adapted category and 68 in the original category.

The guild’s restrictions require that scripts be produced under WGA jurisdiction or under a collective bargaining agreement in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand or the U.K. and that the scripts be formally submitted for consideration.

That leaves several notable candidates out of the WGA awards mix, including “Amour,” “Brave,” “Django Unchained,” “The Impossible,” “Middle of Nowhere,” “Les Miserables,” “Seven Psychopaths,” “Take this Waltz” and “Your Sister’s Sister” in the original category. Exclusions in the adapted field include “Les Miserables,” “Anna Karenina,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Intouchables,” “Quartet” and “Rust and Bone.”

The Hitfix site first reported the exclusions Saturday.

The WGA had no immediate comment on the exclusions, but the restrictions on eligibility are a longstanding practice at the WGA — and more restrictive than those of other guilds

Leaders of the WGA, which has been the ultimate arbiter of screenplay credits since 1941, have said in past years that they don’t intend to loosen the qualifying rules.

Christopher Nolan brought up the exclusion issue at the WGA Awards show in February, 2011 in his acceptance speech for winning the original screenplay trophy for “Inception” when he asserted that he had been “crushed” when he found out that his “Memento” script — which was Oscar-nommed — was ineligible for the WGA Awards a decade ago.

“Nothing is more important than recognition by my peers,” he added. “I hope next year the person who stands up here can give thanks without qualification.”

“Inception” was nommed for an Oscar but lost out to “The King’s Speech,” which wasn’t eligible for a WGA award. This year’s WGA winners — Woody Allen for original screenplay for “Midnight in Paris” and Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for adapted for “The Descendants” — also won Oscars.

The WGA is set to announce its nominees on Jan. 3 and its awards show will be held Feb. 17 in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.